Psychic Energy Cloud

Six years ago I had moved to Los Angeles, and while there I had (so I
thought) the fortune of working with a paranormal investigator pursuing
a life-long passion. Shortly after working for him (whom I shall keep
nameless) I became severely disenchanted with the paranormal since he
seemed more focused on somehow connecting with the Hollywood scene and
did not, in my opinion, care much for the scientific aspect of
paranormal research. It is hard for me to say whether he EVER cared for
it, or was, to put it bluntly, a con artist. It was probably one of the
most interesting moments in my life however, and I both loved and
loathed it. Regardless of the pseudo-parapsychologist (who among other
things stiffed me $600 in back wages for performing administrative
duties), the experiences I had on the job were genuine. One in
particular comes to mind because I really have not read anything similar
to that experience, at least with any frequency.

We were investigating an old Los Angeles hotel that had been converted into
low-income housing -- a place that we had plans to bring tourists to at
a later date. While we were on -- I believe the fourth floor by one of
the suites, the team encountered a very peculiar phenomenon. Outside the
suite there was a patch of space about waist-height where vision was
distorted. We discovered the spot because someone was carrying a
magnetometer and I remember first feeling a funny sensation, like static
and the hairs of my arm began to pick up -- not dramatically, but enough
to be noticeable. As we all formed a circle around this patch of air
running our hands through it to feel the "charge" we were all thrilled
to see optical effects. Faint blue auras trailed from our fingertips as
we waved out hands through and soon there were after-images of our hands
themselves in mid-air. I hate to use the word because of its drug
connotation, but the best way to describe the phenomenon was like a
psychedelic trip producing trailing images of one's own hand. Soon, the
effect was so blurring I had to look away because it was making me
dizzy.

I was thrilled! A bona fide unexplained phenomenon and here we were, at
least five individuals experiencing it at the same time. I turned to the
parapsychologist hungering for a theory about what it was we were
experiencing, but he was backing away from it unnerved. I asked him what
he thought it was and he merely shook his head said he didn't know and
proceeded to back down the hallway. I think that was the point when I
started to have my doubts about him. Honestly, it was not frightening,
but rather fascinating. I had other experiences while working with the
team but after a month I quit -- as I said, disenchanted and bitter. I
have since moved back to Massachusetts and will still religiously watch
"Haunted History" and other documentaries and (god help me for admitting
this) "World's Scariest Places" on Halloween. I have not actively gone
ghost hunting for a couple years (my last attempt was an abysmal failure
ended by being harassed and followed by teen-age townies), but once in a
while I'll walk into a building, get that shiver and say "Oh yeah, this
place has got something going on!"